Bohnanza

Bohnanza
Box art for the game Bohnanza.
DesignersUwe Rosenberg
IllustratorsUwe Rosenberg, Klemens Franz, Atelier Löwentor, Björn Pertoft
PublishersAmigo Spiele / Rio Grande Games
Players2-7
Setup timeapprox. 5 min.
Playing time30-60 minutes
A Bohnanza game-playing tournament in the Czech Republic

Bohnanza is a German-style card game based on the game mechanics of trading and politics, designed by Uwe Rosenberg and released in 1997 (in German) by Amigo Spiele and (in English) by Rio Grande Games. It is played with a deck of cards with comical illustrations of eleven different types of beans of varying scarcity, which the players are trying to plant and sell in order to earn money.[1] The principal restriction is that players may only farm two or three types of beans at once (limited by the number of fields they own), but they obtain beans of all different types randomly from the deck and so must engage in trade with the other players to be successful.

The original game is for 3–5 players and takes about 1 hour to play, but the Rio Grande edition adds alternative rules to the official rulebook to allow for games for 2–7 players. The name Bohnanza is a pun on the words Bohne (German for "bean") and bonanza (an English word for "an exceptionally large and rich mineral deposit"[2] as well as a reference to the long-running Western show Bonanza).

  1. ^ Selinker, Mike (2007). "Bohnanza". In Lowder, James (ed.). Hobby Games: The 100 Best. Green Ronin Publishing. pp. 31–33. ISBN 978-1-932442-96-0.
  2. ^ "Bonanza". Merriam-Webster. Retrieved April 24, 2023.